CHENNAI: India has begun an exploration for mineral deposits and precious metals like gold and silver in the Southern Indian Ocean. The country's first ever seabed exploration for polymetallic sulphides is being done in the Rodriguez Triple Junction (RTJ), a geological junction in the southern Indian Ocean where three tectonic plates meet near Mauritius. Scientists at the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa said that the country has been granted 10,000sq km near RTJ for seabed exploration of polymetallic sulphide, a mineral deposit with three or more metals in commercial quantities.